Saccharomyces Cerevisiae- Comes Up Trumps Again

[RdeVjun]

Article on New Scientist about tiny yeast- powered fuel cells actually implanted within the human body. A precis:

The new fuel cell consists of a colony of Saccharomyces cerevisiae – the kind of yeast commonly used in brewing and baking – encapsulated in a fuel cell made of a form of silicone called polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). ... the fuel cells can generate power from a drop of human blood plasma ... The prototype is 15 millimetres square and 1.4 mm thick... to keep the yeast cells healthy, their waste products will need to be removed without allowing any harmful substances to leach out into the blood stream. "I think people will figure this out. This is a first step," he says.

Surely a few of us could come up with a solution to the waste product problem, but for mine, only the CO2 is a problem, not the alcamahol! It can come out into the blood as quick as it wants, converting all that nasty horrible glucose into the good ol' rocket fuel and powering our pacemakers at the same time! Fabulous stuff this technology thingy!

All you biochemists out there, could it be an April Fool's number though? That would be rather cruel... if so, I'm cancelling my subscription, the b*stards...

 

[RdeVjun]

I was going to edit this to clear it up and clarify a few things. Buuuut, I decided not to, instead, its occurred to me that this is actually a huge threat to homebrewing!!! Well, any brewing of alcohol really. Think about it, a tiny chip that contains yeast, probably much the same stuff we all house in fermenters, producing byproducts of sugar fermentation (yes, one of them is alcohol), actually implanted in the human body instead. All you need to do is feed it glucose, which I think is plentiful in the bloodstream. Does anyone else see the problem here?? :blink:

If you have enough of them, it makes brewing completely redundant! You'd be carrying your own personal brewery around with you wherever you go, getting smashed all of the time. They'd just have to convince those guys to let those pesky byproducts flow on their merry way.

In other news, sugarbeet/cane farmers and bio-microchip manufacturers are rubbing their hands together with glee. Oh, I'm just popping off to the sharebroker, back in a mo'...

 

[Supra-Jim]

If you have enough of them, it makes brewing completely redundant! You'd be carrying your own personal brewery around with you wherever you go, getting smashed all of the time. They'd just have to convince those guys to let those pesky byproducts flow on their merry way.

But how do you 'insert' the hops?

:icon_cheers: SJ

 

[RdeVjun]

But how do you 'insert' the hops?

:icon_cheers: SJ

Hmm, good point SJ. Oh, I am hoping you're not sugg.... Oh damn, now its all rooned!

"In other news, shares inexplicably crashed today for hop plug machine manufacturers. Seems the technology has run its course, unlike suppository machine makers, they're experiencing a great boost..." :blink: